A typical sump pump is founded on a sump pump liner or container that retains a sump pump. Sump pump liners of the prior art can, for instance, comprise cylindrical, plastic pails or barrels with the motorized sump pump therein. The liner normally holds the sump pump below the level of a floor in the basement of a home or other structure. When a predetermined water level is sensed by a water level switch, the sump pump is activated to pump the accumulated water out of the building structure or into a building's sewer drainage system.
Sump pump liners are often open at the top, but they may be covered to seal the unit against debris from entering the volume of the liner, to limit the escape of moisture and odor from the volume of the liner, and to prevent persons walking in the area of the pump from inadvertently stepping or falling into the liner. Prior art sump pump containers or liners are normally round such that they cannot conform to a right-angled corner of, for example, a foundation wall.
The present inventor has contributed to the art of active pumping and drainage systems with a plurality of patented and commercially successful advances beyond the prior art. By way of example, U.S. Pat. No. 6,619,001 taught Methods of Use of a Basement Water Drainage Conduit while an Appliance Surround Structure and Method of Installation were disclosed with U.S. Pat. No. 6,976,501. With U.S. Pat. No. 7,080,662, the inventor provided a Rain Recycling System. Further advances beyond prior art drainage systems were disclosed and protected by the present inventor with U.S. Pat. Nos. 7,503,725, 7,748,170, 7,832,150, 7,836,640, and 8,186,127. The disclosures of each of these patents is incorporated herein by reference.
Despite these many useful contributions to the art and those of multiple other capable inventors, the need remains for further improvement in the ability to engage and remove rain and groundwater accumulating in building structures. In this regard, the present inventor has recognized that active water removal systems and methods of the prior art are typically limited in their ability to engage, receive, and remove water. Sump pumps of the prior art typically occupy and operate over an extremely limited footprint and depth and must normally wait for accumulating water to reach the main body of the sump pump liner. While removing accumulating water quickly, efficiently, and completely is a long recognized need, previous sump pumps do not provide an active mechanism to attract water into the pumping volume.